ATP 500 Beijing: Rinderknech Nearly Upsets De Minaur, Muller Falls to Marozsan

Alexandre Muller and Arthur Rinderknech gave their all in Beijing but were unable to secure a spot in the quarterfinals.
Two French players took to the courts early in the day at the ATP 500 tournament in Beijing. First up was Alexandre Muller. After defeating Karen Khachanov in the first round, the world No. 38 aimed to build on that momentum against Fabian Marozsan.
The Hungarian, always a tricky opponent, had previously eliminated another French player, Benjamin Bonzi, in the preceding round (7-6, 6-3). In this first-ever meeting between the two, it was the lower-ranked player who took control early on.
With a break at the perfect moment (at 4-3), Marozsan sealed the set on his own serve. Muller responded well, breaking back to pull ahead 3-1, but the world No. 57 immediately leveled the score.
Ultimately, the Hungarian closed out the match in a tiebreak on his first opportunity (6-3, 7-6). He will face either Jannik Sinner or Terence Atmane in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Arthur Rinderknech came close to pulling off an impressive performance against Alex De Minaur.
After avenging his previous qualifying loss to David Goffin, the world No. 54 pushed a top-10 player to a third-set tiebreak. Rinderknech had already shown resilience by winning the second set and saving three match points on his serve at 6-5 down in the final set.
But the steady Australian did not dwell on his missed chances for long. After a perfectly controlled tiebreak (winning 7-2), De Minaur secured his place in the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 Beijing tournament (6-3, 3-6, 7-6 in 2 hours and 15 minutes). The No. 3 seed will face either Jakub Mensik or Arthur Cazaux for a spot in the semifinals.